Experimental investigation of the shear strength of one‐way reinforced concrete (RC) slabs subjected to concentrated loads and in‐plane transverse axial tension

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out to investigate the effects of in-plane transverse tensile forces on the shear strength of linearly supported one-way reinforced concrete (RC) slabs without shear reinforcement subjected to concentrated loads. A total of 5 half scale slabs (1650 Â 1650 Â 120 mm), subjected simultaneously to different levels of in-plane tensile forces and a concentrated load were tested up to failure. The clear shear span to effective depth ratio a v /d was equal to 3 in all tests, to minimize the effects of the direct transmission of the load to the closest support, the so called arching action.As observed, the shear strength barely decreases with increasing values of the tensile force applied, even for values of the external force that cracked the concrete cross-section of the slabs in the direction perpendicular to the span. These observations may indicate that the shear-flexural behavior in the spanning direction is not significantly affected by the membrane forces in the transverse direction.

Shear and Punching Capacity Predictions for One-Way Slabs under Concentrated Loads Considering the Transition between Failure Mechanisms

“…Until now, most investigations regarding the accuracy of the approach presented in Figure 1b have been based on reduced-scale laboratory tests (Figure 1c) [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. For such tests, it is more frequent to compare tested and predicted resistances in terms of force (Vtest for the achieved sectional shear in the test and VR for the predicted sectional one-way shear capacity).…”

“…Nowadays, with the aid of computational tools, it is possible to calculate the load effect for several load positions and for each control section in such a way as to search for the most critical position (resulting in the highest ratio between shear demand vE and shear capacity vR). Therefore, a Until now, most investigations regarding the accuracy of the approach presented in Figure 1b have been based on reduced-scale laboratory tests (Figure 1c) [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. For such tests, it is more frequent to compare tested and predicted resistances in terms of force (V test for the achieved sectional shear in the test and V R for the predicted sectional one-way shear capacity).…”